Synopsis

Because of the constantly declining birth rates over many decades, human civilization is all but extinct. With only a few humans remaining, they survive in this post-apocalyptic world with what was left behind by the previous generations. Earth is now dominated by fairies, tiny creatures with extremely advanced technology, an obsession with candy, and a complete disregard for human safety.

A young girl who has just finished her studies returns to her hometown and is designated as an official United Nations arbitrator. Her duty is to serve as a link between mankind and fairies, reassuring each side that both races can live together peacefully. She imagines this task will be easy enough, but controlling the disasters created by the oblivious fairies in their pursuit of candy will require a lot more effort than she initially believes.

To learn and evolve is a natural process of human nature. But after countless mistakes, does this growth still hold any meaning? What then, if the consequences are so severe that amending the situation becomes impossible?

For Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, this is answered through a colorful world where humanity is on the verge of extinction, succeeded by a race of silly, mass-producing fairies bearing a constant grin. Adorable and amusing as they are, these little creatures are anything but auspicious. Repeating tragedy in situations of utter insanity, the fairies exist as a personification of humanity's follies, neatly told through a clever story of satire
and cynicism.

Ah, our poor protagonist, as interacting with these frightening creatures serves as her occupation. For the nameless "Watashi", being pulled into their world of games and magic is little more than a daily occurrence. Time loops, loaves of bread committing suicide by ripping themselves in half, skinned birds raining in on a church, and faceless chickens smoking cigars while quacking in the language of nonsense— all are something to be passed off with a sigh and a dry remark by the protagonist. In this world, there is no such thing as strange. Such words ring true time and time again.

But make no mistake, this is not an anime that is strange simply for the sake of being strange. All of this gives way for plenty of witty humor between the madness that occurs. Rather than being a traditional comedy and telling the jokes through the characters' interaction with each other, much of this comes instead from the situations and the setting. It's not about a character screaming your ears to death or bopping the other over the head when they say something stupid, but about the allusions to society and the absurdity of the situation. Far too few comedy anime attempt to break from the mold of Manzai and puns, which makes Jinrui all the more refreshing of an experience.

As a satire, it's no surprise that Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita focuses itself as a social-commentary of sorts. There's a surprising amount of depth here when one really pays attention. It's cynical in tone and content, though it never feels like the viewer is being preached to and lectured. An episode may focus on consumerism, another on humanity's overconsumption of resources, the manga industry or sociocultural evolution. Moreover, the viewer can simply choose to disregard this and enjoy it for the comedy value alone if they prefer. It can be a surreal comedy, a cynical social critique, or some amalgamation of the two. Therein lies the beauty of Jinrui's subtle depth.

A comedy wouldn't be much entertaining without a clever character dynamic, though, and Jinrui does not disappoint in this regard. Watashi is easily one of the most unique protagonists we have had in an anime for quite some time. Nowhere is she defined by cute, idealized traits, by fanservice or through tropes and archetypes. She is her own character; her own person. Her internal thoughts and dry, cynical dialogue with the other characters are an important force in the social critique and comedy, which often contrast and amplify the ridiculousness of the situation. It is deadpan humor at its finest.

Several other colorful and eccentric characters also mark the cast of Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita. Watashi's grandfather, often referred to simply as "Doc", serves as the authority figure of the series and plays an important role in Watashi's past and beginnings as a Mediator. The silent "Assistant", armed with his camera, also tags along with Watashi for the first half of the series.

And then, of course, are the fairies.

It wouldn't be much of an exaggeration to say that the fairies are the most exciting character in the series, if one would define them as a single entity. Seeing the fairies do inconceivable things out of the blue is nothing short of hilarious, and their attempts to behave as humans do and mimic their mistakes also makes them just as much endearing as they are unpredictable. One episode involves a handful of fairies and Watashi stranded on an island, with the fairies near-instantly multiplying themselves and building from sticks to a candy kingdom with Watashi revered as some sort of god. You never really know what the heck to expect from them.

There isn't much in the way of characterization until the later episodes, though, which incidentally is also when the story takes off and develops. Each episode typically goes back further in time, with the last two episodes highlighting Watashi's experiences during her elementary school days. There's a very clear distinctness in this short story arc, notably resulting from the comedy being pushed aside and serious themes such as isolation and bullying playing a principal role. Rather than a bizarre environment typical of the series, the viewer is presented with something more realistic, albeit with a slightly macabre twist (mostly resulting from the insanity of her yandere roommate). These final two episodes succeed not only in detailing Watashi's past, but also in fleshing out her personality through her experiences in a different environment. It's not often that you find a main character in a comedy anime that has development and substance, but then Jinrui has never really been a series that's satisfied with mere uniformity.

Speaking of uniformity, though, it's a little unfortunate that the quality of the anime isn't always consistent. A few of the episodes, while still decent, are much weaker than the rest and vastly oversimplify the topic or theme that they are trying to comment on. It occasionally bites off a bit more than it can chew, which is disappointing given that most of the episodes have already demonstrated that it's fully capable. The last two episodes are also incredibly incongruous with the tone and theme of the anime, and though it fleshes out Watashi's character considerably, one can't help but wonder if it was all that necessary. Considering that her presence in the previous episodes was as a reactionary element to the bizarre situations, making the change into an empathetic and developed character seems very odd. No doubt she could have been developed instead through the quirky dialogue rather than a superfluous flashback.

The visuals also aren't going to leave anybody in awe, but they deserve a special mention for the vibrant art style and colorful palette. It's rare for an anime to deviate from conventions and focus on their visual appeal (aside from perhaps the cuteness of the characters), but here is a case where Jinrui again succeeds in doing something to stand out from the crowd. It's unique and pleasant to look at, notably accentuating the surreal world and creating a contrast between the playful appearance and cynical tone.

Jinrui is certainly one of the most refreshing and unique series that anime has seen in quite some time. In a year that hasn't seen much originality or hard-hitting series, the bizarre world of Jinrui is a very appealing experience. This is not an anime to simply be enjoyed and forgotten over the months, but is something that will no doubt linger in the minds of most for quite some time. Not necessarily for the insanity that occurs (though that is certainly a part of it), but for providing a genuinely witty comedy that brilliantly satirizes human society in an intelligent manner. It has more substance and depth than many of the more serious titles out there, though carefully remaining subtle with its themes. For a comedy anime, this is an admirable feat indeed.

Then again, I guess not everybody is going to enjoy the refined art of birds raining from the sky and mobster chickens cursing about fornication.

Humanity Has Declined is sure an interesting title for an anime, I bet it happened before, you know, suddenly our creativity starts to run to it's fullest in order to guess what's the anime's storyline, the possibilities are infinite, after all, imagination has no borders, it's like being under a spell which allows us to imagine complete different scenarios where we're able to push our ideals, characters personalities, story developments, plot twists, in few words, everything we'd like to see, but the spell isn't eternal, everything cease when we're forced to open our eyes, yes, we wake up
in that precise moment when we've obtained freedom from ignorance, guys... we've just watched the first episode, our once infinite possibilities are drastically reduced, prepare to say goodbye to our ideals, Reality knocked at our door, now we've to choose between two remaining scenarios ahead us: "pleased" or "disappointed", the spell is broken.

In my case, still under the effect of such spell, I did imagine a lot of possibilities for this anime, I swear, it turned to be completely different from any possible scenario I could come up with and once the spell was broken, the result was unbelievable and unexpected, I was "pleased" unexpectedly wonderfully and gladly pleased I must add!, I just couldn't believe this anime turned out to be one of the most refreshing, hilarious and, above all, original piece of animation I've seen. Presenting with bizarre tunes a mature theme such as "the end of humankind" and adding those spicy ingredients that only intelligent shows can handle, Satire and Irony, it manages to develop an incredible and unique flow of events succeeding completely in the difficult task of entertaining the viewer using a brilliant comedy whiteout recurring to obscenity, vulgarity, clichés or fanservice.

As the title suggests, this anime is set in a post-apocalyptic world, after a millenarian history, humans has lost it's primacy, sadly we meet a bad end, and small creatures called 'Fairies' have taken over. In this new world where humans and fairies coexist, the story follows a nameless girl from one of the few human village remaining, she acts as one of the many 'mediator' and her job is to deeper into the crazy and bizarre fairy ecosystem in order to get in contact with them. "A simple and easy task" you may say... Oh hell it isn't! dealing with these fairies is anything but easy, in a job when even the smallest development turns out into a flow of bizarre events, where chickens can talk, plan to take over the world, everything while smoking cigars.. ah don't forget that your hair turns out to be alive and 'his' favorite weapon is a knife, in a situation like that I bet everyone would feel, at least, a bit uneasy, or to quit immediately... but our protagonist is a quite particular girl, and the scenarios we get when this girl and the fairies are together are abnormally hilarious.

The reality shown in this anime isn't exactly a mirror of our reality, even so it's meant in a way we can see a reflection of our own, naturally, always in bizarre tones and that's thanks to our protagonist, she's a pool of satirical comments and criticism, nothing is able to escape her "rage" (if we could call it so), it's directed towards everything, the society she lives, human behavior, fairies, historical development and, sometimes, even herself. So through a spiral of comments, a critical and satirical view of the world is available to the viewers, one of the anime's main characteristics, and it's best feature. The story telling isn't presented as the typical linear setting, it neither follow a certain plot; we have different arcs, composed of 1 or 2 episodes each, following a certain case involving the mediator and the fairies

A large cast of characters isn't between the features, but that's not a problem. Our main heroine is truly one-girl show, and we also have the fairies, which we can categorize as a single entity so we don't need really anyone else, they alone are capable of developing a whole anime by themselves, truly impressive don't you think?. I dare to say if there were another protagonist, he/she would be completely overshadowed by our mediator, however there is a really interesting group of minor characters appearing in each arc worth to remember and appreciate.

Let's go to meet them:

From one hand we have a human girl, a mediator between humans and fairies, our protagonist. A first impression of her would be that of a nice and kind girl but she isn't really what appears, don't let her fool you!, actually she's the type of person we could call "a fox disguised as a sheep", and I'll tell you why: selfish, plotter, cynical and sarcastic are the best adjectives to describe her. She finds literally a pain in the ass her job as a mediator, specially when she discovers that being a "politician" isn't less difficult than the jobs there're nowadays, farming/hunting jobs, anyway while she always complains about her situation she manages to do her job quite efficiently, even if she would rather have zero contact with fairies as possible, and that's not because she dislikes them, but it's just that each time they're involved, the situation escalates quickly into a bizarre mess she needs to deal by herself. She has a very pessimistic view of the world, and I wouldn't blame her neither, this leads her sarcastic and cynical comments about the events and the series development. Somehow each episode lead us to find another "dark side" of her personality, which usually shows up when she's in a pinch. Oh.. contrary to her personality, she loves to make sweets, specially to manipulate the fairies or order to seek for some of their help in cases.

From the other hand we have the fairies, the new "humans", they're presented as little small dwarf like creatures, which supposedly, are possessors of an incredible knowledge and intelligence, and we could completely find a confirm of this from the gadgets they produce, which are actually fantasy borderline rather than futuristic, but their behavior could lead us to think otherwise, actually...shock turn!, they're easily manipulated by the mediator with only the help of sweets, they've such a sweet tooth which leads them to do anything in order to get some. Usually it’s the fairies fault of each problem that surface in the series and that the mediator needs to deal with, they usually have an easy-going and shiny personality but this can quickly change to a down earth mood when they aren't having fun, showing a quite pessimistic view of life which leads them to express dark and edgy comments, comparable to our protagonist's ones. When I said that we can categorize them as a single entity I meant that there's no really an embodiment of individual personality for each fairy, sometimes they don't even have names, aside from the ones the girl keep as pets in her house and even she eventually forgets.

Other characters worth mentioning are Doc, the protagonist's grandpa, one of the village's leaders, he has a really easy-going personality but it's also strict when the girl is goofing around whiteout doing her job. Assistant-kun, a boy who rarely speaks but surprisingly the mediator understands him only by looking at his face, he also express himself by sketching things in his block notes when looking at him isn't enough. Y, yes.. her name is a letter, or at least that's how she presents herself, she's an old school friend, responsible of bringing to life again the Yaoi genre in this post-apocalyptic world... damn. There're some more but I won't mention, you'll have to meet them by yourselves my dear readers, it's a whole experience, however even if they're really minor characters their appearance add a unique aura to the show, honorary mention should be dedicated to Bleeding Loaf, a character appeared in episode 01, after seeing that I knew this show was going to be great, believe me when I say this... it's hilarious.

Already thought this show couldn't get weirder?, let me tell you a pair of things more about it, hope you won't mind. The whole atmosphere is filled by a really colorful pastel landscape and art, there're present some particulars that add a really unique touch to the entire scenery, such as the lack of technology that can be seen in the village, the surreal buildings architecture by the fairies, people's costumes, the logic behind the fairies gadgets, a result that's quite pleasant to admire, things that I appreciated very much. The animation was very consistent through the series, even those lively "action" scenes were done quite nice, super eye candy animation isn't one of its strong points, it doesn't fit with the design anyway. OSTs aren't that spectacular neither, but they didn't feel off scene never, rather forgettable actually, but this show doesn't rely too much on the background musics, but If we really have to say, there's one that could be crafted into our minds, maybe forever, it’s the Ave Maria of the flying chickens, that scene is almost unforgettable (Episode 02), I swear, it'll crafted into your mind.

Also there's a particular odd characteristic, this anime doesn't present a chronological storyline. I watched it the first time in the broadcasting and a second time in chronological order, overall the experience is the same, there's a two episodes arc that features our mediator when she was in school, if we watch that arc as our beginning or as a flash back, it doesn't change very much the experience, the anime's crazy and bizarre aura allows us that. People could find it amusing and interesting, something that add an extra uniqueness to the show, but there are also people who enjoy more a chronological order, so I'll leave the chronological order here, hoping that maybe someone find this handful, watch it as wherever you feel to.

This was a truly amazing ride, I enjoyed every episode of it, the series strong point is surely its protagonist, in my personal opinion the best female character I've met, she's still my 1st in my Top and I doubt someone will steal her place. Just try to visualize everything said in this review and let run your imagination to it's fullest, because that would be the closest thing that you'll be experiencing in this anime and, probably, won't be enough to anticipate the events on going through the series, I guarantee it.

Based on the title, the average individual would probably conjure projections of some bleak and black post-apocalyptic world. Based on the show's artwork, the average individual would conjure preconceptions of some bright and fuzzy fantasy setting. It's really neither, and yet it's kind of both, and that's one of the things that makes Humanity has Declined both refreshing and intriguing.

Produced by AIC, Humanity has Declined was adapted from a light novel series of the same name by Tanaka Romeo. Direction was handled by Kishi Seiji, Script, by Makoto Uezu. Character designs, original and anime, respectively, were drawn up by Sunaho Tobe and Kyuuta Sakai. As
the title suggests, humanity is on the decline. The best years of its existence behind it, as evidenced by the towering, overgrown, crumbling concrete infrastructures, the return to simpler, more old-world edifices for inhabitance, and the anachronistic technological spottiness of goods and services that seem to become increasingly regressive by the day, mankind as we know it fades closer to obscurity and closer still to extinction, though, surprisingly enough, its members don't seem to mind all that much. Replacing humans as the apex species of the planet are... well, fairies, tiny humanoid beings characterized by ever present smiles, squeaky voices, cute costumes, insatiable appetites for sugar and fun, childish blatancies for vocalizing morbid absurdisms, and penchants for creating surreal and fantastical scenarios that happen to defy the laws of physics. The last characterization being one of understandable concern, the United Nations Conciliatory Council (UNCC) has established positions of mediators to interact with the local fairy communities, for purposes of beneficence. So enters Watashi, translated from Japanese to English as “I,” so known because of her tendency to address herself as such in her sentences, since no one character actually refers to each other by their names, except that one episode with the anthropomorphic satellites, and that other episode where she ended up giving labels to a few fairies, though, through some ridiculous turn of events, triggered the destruction of an entire metropolis...

...yeah. The show has roughly three major narrative appeals, and by far the one with the most spectacle is the seemingly random, over-the-top insanity. A walking, talking loaf of red carrot juice bread committing suicide. Headless, fowlnecked, cigar-smoking chickens taking over the world. Defeathered poultry crashing into stained-glass churches to the tune of Ave Maria. A manga renaissance ushered by the revival of yaoi doujinshi. Time paradogs. A giant cat having it out against a giant squid, both of which are made of sentient jelly. Fairies saying the darndest things with the darndest expressions, and the list of absurdities pile on, though, as Episode 4 observed, the implementation of this form of constant spectacle gets gimmicky and tiring after a while without something balance it in between, and, honestly, there isn't enough in the series anyway to sustain interest purely by its own merits, as evidenced by the boredom of spectacle sponges in the audience.

What they didn't appreciate was that all of this insanity, and much of the content in between, has purpose. This purpose, and the second major narrative appeal of this show, is social satire. This show makes satirical jabs at humanity, from the systems people organize themselves under, to the attitudes and beliefs that people adopt, framing them in such manners where they are laid bare, taken to their natural extremes, and then cut up and re-expose in such ridiculous fashions that, in the midst of the frivolity and joviality, it begs the question as to why they exist and place so much importance in real life. And often in the show, what is being made fun of can lead into inquiries of issues that are sore and festering, social commentary, in other words, from the origin of mandatory noise flashes from video recorders and camera phones, the outlandish conclusions of factory tours, and the pervasiveness of risque BL entertainment, to the dangers of religion, the excesses of corporatism, and the stagnancy of civilization. This affects more than just the numerical count of the human population. The show's called Humanity has Declined, not Humanity has Fallen, with reason. Without being self-righteous, this show points out and criticizes that in fiction and real life that has made us less human. It does so not only by means of caricatures. It does so by personifying our most ruinous traits into these tiny, humanoid beings, handing them supernatural powers as tools, and framing their actions not only as entertainment to enjoy, but case studies to examine. However, like Mawaru Penguindrum is like with much of its symbolism, much of the social satire, especially when its more indirect and subtle, can easily fly over the heads of the less than observant, and even the observant may have a hard time grasping everything without repeated watches. Episodes and mini arcs being what they are, the social satire also has the tendency to overgeneralize...

...which leaves the third appeal for, well, last: Watashi, the observer, the commentator, and the character. Through her eyes, we see the over-the-top insanity and social satire in a thoughtfully amusing way, one that cuts right into the heart of the matter. Never before since Kyon from the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya have we a main protagonist with as deadpan and dry a wit as hers. Where spectacle is absent and satire is no where to be found, she compensates with her sarcastic internal reactionary monologues, sarcastic external reactionary quips, and her hilariously... wait for it... sarcastic facial and bodily expressions. And yet, like Kyon, she's more than than a one-way medium. She's more than this passive observer and pretentious commentator. She's not immune to humanity's shadows. Adopting a controlled, motherly role in line with her responsibilities as a mediator, one she executes with expressions of duty and grace, she has her own wishes apart from that of a mediator, her own desires, her own reservations, her own issues, and they are able to break through, both in her cynicism and beyond. Despite her extraordinary level of intelligence and perceptibility, her self-centered tendencies toward pride and sloth gets in her way of bettering the situation she's in. But despite that, she's also made decisions and taken actions beyond the call of duty that she very well knows would worm her into more trouble. Ones she intuitively believed were right, and would be loathe to flounder on, more so than her disdain for idiots and exertion. Ones of which are due to past and maybe even presently lingering insecurities.

No discussion of this show is complete without an analysis of this show's visuals, which, harkening back to the introductory paragraph, is far from being the grimdark end of the world scenario we might imagine the show would take place in judging solely from the title. The light, fluffy, impressionistic pastel backdrops and character designs contrasts somewhat sharply with the stiltedly jaded humor and serious subject matter of the content. Juxtaposed with each other, it creates a uniquely refreshing, but clearly dissonant atmosphere, an aura that is deliberately meant to put the audience at enough unease to make us stop and think about the subtext behind what we are watching.

The series has its asides apart from those previously mentioned. While the issues and concepts utilized throughout show are presented in often humorous, yet nevertheless clever ways, there are snags to be mended in regards to when comedy transitions into drama, an unfortunately bad habit of Director Seiji's works, if Angel Beats is any indicator. Were you to isolate the two, he can direct dramatic scenes rather evocatively relative to his comedic ones. He just has a hard time leading into them; comedy turns into drama quite abruptly, without much in the way of a dramatic foundation. Anyone with a macro-oriented mind would find the turn about jarring. The characters fail to be fully sympathizable because we have little to no cue beforehand to take them with a modicum of maturity. The Fairies' Homecoming, the arc where this error is most egregious, coupled with The Fairies' Time Management, partly due to its more round about content and the anime community's unwillingness to let the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya's (2009) Endless Eight go, results in a disparity of engagement between the first third and the last third of the show. On that note, Humanity has Declined, just like the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2006), features its episodes chronologically out of order. However, where the latter had it done because of pacing issues, the former's reason is more questionable, and it doesn't have the novelty of freshness on its side like the Haruhi Suzumiya franchise had in its inception on TV. Perhaps it makes for a better hook? But at the cost of a disjointed plot and characterizations? A valid complaint arising from this fragmentation are the intent behind the placement of episodes that focus on Watashi's development as a school youth. Alone, they are excellent, but taken together with the rest of the show, they seem to be kind of an inconsistent duck to follow in the wake of previous shenanigans. Maybe they would have been better off at the beginning of air time? But then again, would we care about Watashi's back story otherwise?

The OP “Real World” was done by nano.RIPE, and while in the camp of those people who aren't particularly fond of their work, my ire directed more to the singer than anyone else, here, the sickly sweet vocals, combined with the energetic beat of the percussion, electric bass, and electric guitar, synchronizes well with the repetitively off-kilter choreography of the OP's visuals and the stilted humor of the show itself. In addition to presenting the audience with a taste of the setting is a short, but interesting slide between an impressionistic depiction of a city to an impressionistic depiction of a grassland, consistent with, once again, the show's title. The ED “Yume no Naka no Watashi no Yume” or “My Dream Within a Dream,” by Masumi Ito, takes both the vocals and the visuals to a whole new level, the uncannily minor key and accidental note croons, complemented by drums, some minor electric flourishes, and a pervading more classical guitar, paralleling the impressionistic silhouette of Watashi, and, by figurative extension, humanity, motioning past edifices littered with fairies, an allegoric representation of the cycle of civilization: growth, peak, and decline. In fact, it fits quite nicely with the events of Episode 9.

Despite some problems in execution, what we have here is an intelligently written and thought-provoking piece. It's full of funny spectacles, biting social satires, refreshingly intriguing aesthetics, and superb characterization on the part of the female protagonist.

Watashi's more than just this vehicle of detached cynical snark. She's more than just humanity. Watashi mo hyuuman desu.

I am just so happy to be through with that show, I really could not stand it. Generally I came to it for the amazing art style but I only found a pile of jokes that really didn't entertain me that much.
The show has some interesting atmosphere for a comedy, and it sometimes give the feeling of something more dramatic but it's not funny enough as a comedy and not nearly interesting enough as a drama.
Character and story development is almost non existent. The main character is being slightly examined throughout the show but the characters around her are so wacky there's hardly one relationship
that is interesting to inspect. The story is episodic and episodes are separated from one another almost as being stand alone stories, which adds to the show's undeveloped nature.
Perhaps the show wanted to examine ideas instead of a story in the common term but the episodes range from boring to bizarre. Some of the allegories I did not understand, some I found too tedious to even try and the rest I just not relate to.
I find very little reason to watch this show. Again, I praise the art and animation which are some of the most beautiful I've ever seen in anime and also some BGM tracks were catchy and likable to me, but I do not recommend this unless you are looking for a very unique and not so successful dark comedy.

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